What would make you care about child sex slavery

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Child sex slavery is a topic that doesn’t come up too often in discussions about worldly issues. When it does come up, many assume that the topic occurs in small foreign countries. However, reports of child slavery aren’t alien to our country. In fact, there are thousands of reports each year. In 2017 over 1,000 trafficking businesses were identified, and there were over 10,000 individual victims. One of the main reasons it’s such a huge problem is the fact that Americans are the number one consumers of child pornography, and America is estimated to be one of the top hosts of child porn sites. The kids that are at a higher risk of being trafficked are ones that don’t have anywhere to go. However, these crimes don’t just happen in run down areas of the country. Victims can also be taken from wealthy and suburban neighborhoods. It could be happening right next door to you, and you wouldn’t even know.

Would the Photos Make You Care?

The photo above shows people protesting against child sex trafficking in front of the Washington State Supreme Court in 2015. The website Backpage.com was being sued at the time for having advertisements on their website for sex services from child prostitutes. The ones that sued the website were three survivors of child prostitution that wanted to prevent future victims form being sold.

The photo above shows the leaders of a group that ran a sex trafficking business. In the metro area of Denver in 2016, they recruited three female teenagers and one young adult that they later forced into prostitution.

The photo above shows a woman named Shandra Woworuntu that was a victim of human sex trafficking in her early adult life. She came to the United States in 2001 from Indonesia hoping to get a job at a hotel, but within hours of arriving to America she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution.

This photo is to show how anyone could be a victim. All of these girls have different appearances, but that doesn’t mean one of them is more vulnerable than another.

Would the Statistics Make You Care?

The statistics above are from the Human Trafficking Hotline. Because of the hotline, over 10,000 individuals were identified, and they were able to identify how many trafficking businesses there are.

The statistics above show what kind of children were most vulnerable to sex trafficking in 2016. The majority of victims were runaways from a foster care and social services, most likely due to the fact that they don’t have families to go back to.

Out of 2,136 victims of child sex trafficking, the top recruitment tactics used by pimps were identified. Because the victims are children, the top tactics involve cases of Stockholm Syndrome developing. The victims are often runaways, so when someone that appears to be showing compassion arrives, the children start to trust their captors.

Would the Stories Make You Care?

The video above shows a woman that describes her experience with being a victim of child sex trafficking. At the age six she was sold to a group of aristocrats in Belgium, and for five and a half years she was forced to perform sex acts for their entertainment.

The video above involves a girl talking about what she went through as a child that was sexually exploited in America. She talks about the government care system and how it led her to become a victim.

This video was created to show how one might become a victim of child sex trafficking. However, runaways are can be more vulnerable due to the fact that they have nowhere to go.

So What Can You Do?

One of the most important things you can do is to bring awareness. Talk to others about this so that more people informed that this is happening right here and right now. If you want to do more to help out, there are numerous organizations that you can donate to. Destiny Rescue and Operation Underground Railroad help rescue these children, along with either returning them back to their families or bringing them to safe houses where they can heal both physically and emotionally. Destiny Rescue specifically also offers education, counseling, and more to survivors. So don’t hold back and help save victims of modern slavery.